"god only knows what i'd be without you..."

Aside from the simple matter of craving some serious adventure, one of the more practical reasons Gregory and I traveled to Boston last year was so that he could introduce me to some of his old high school friends and show me where he grew up. I got a chance to meet Neal and Peter (who are both SO fucking butch!) and their darling wives, Miss April and Miss Gwen -- who, it turns out, is quite an extraordinary artist. Although she didn't go to high school with our darling little trio of drug-addled teenage villains, apparently Gwen knew my sweet husband all those many years ago, as well.

After we were all ensconced cozily around her and Peter's kitchen table -- drinking yummy hot tea, poring over old yearbooks, and belly laughing at the absolutely HIDEOUS 80s hairstyles contained therein -- Gwen smiled mischievously and asked Gregory, "So, do you remember when I sketched you all those years ago?" -- to which my husband actually looked rather shocked and answered, "Umm...no." And then homegirl proceeded to go into her studio and return with a portfolio...out of which she removed an absolutely extraordinary drawing she had done of him when he was but a mere 23-year old babe in arms.

When she handed it to me, I honestly almost passed out -- I couldn't believe what I was seeing. All the air completely left my body. I couldn't stop staring at it -- it was just so amazing. It was my sweet love's face from a long, long time ago -- before I knew him. Before I loved him. Before he loved me. I couldn't stop crying -- it was just the most amazing and unexpected surprise to have had come floating down to me from the ethers of the past. Thank you, Miss Gwen -- it is truly one of the greatest gifts I have ever been given: A singular moment in the past of the man I love most in the whole world -- a small glimpse into a life he had long before I knew he even existed. I mean, how many times in your life are you offered a treasure like that? It just takes my breath away.

Needless to say, we went to the post office the next day and mailed it home in one of those secure document mailer tubes as we didn't want to ruin it in our vagabond luggage. When it arrived at our house a few days after returned, I was just so enchanted that I couldn't stop gazing into his clear, young eyes -- eyes that had hardly tasted life yet...but which, of course, are the very same green eyes I gaze into everyday of my life. He's just so unbelievably beautiful -- and I love him without end. Were it that every girl was as lucky as me.

My one true love.